County sues over annexing of lake

Wonder Lake act invalid, Pack says

McHenry County State's Atty. Gary Pack waded into the muddy politics of Wonder Lake on Tuesday, suing a village and possibly sinking plans to dredge the lake and dig a controversial gravel pit nearby.

"We're not afraid to get involved," Pack said.

His lawsuit alleges that the Village of Wonder Lake did not follow proper procedures when it annexed the bottom of Wonder Lake earlier this year.

The lawsuit seeks to sort out ownership of the bottom of the lake, which has been filling with mud for years. But the suit also is the latest salvo in a protracted fight between the villages of Wonder Lake and Bull Valley over annexation rights and growth and development in central McHenry County.

Wonder Lake wants to annex a site near the corner of Thompson Road and Illinois Highway 120 so that Harvard Aggregate can dig a gravel pit and build an asphalt-mixing plant there. In return, the company has promised to pay the $4 million to $5 million lake-dredging tab and store the gunk from the lake bottom on the site.

But Bull Valley officials oppose such a project so close to their tranquil village, which has no heavy industry. Bull Valley tried to annex the same property to prevent Harvard Aggregate from digging.

Two years ago, when residents with access rights to the private lake came up with the dredging plan, neither village had authority over the land in unincorporated McHenry County.

Harvard Aggregate wanted to work with the Village of Wonder Lake because officials there had endorsed its project. So village officials annexed the lake bottom, making the property where the plant would be built contiguous to the town. Then they annexed the property, which borders the lake at its southern tip.

The bulk of the Village of Wonder Lake is on the western shore of the lake, which is also bordered by several unincorporated subdivisions. Many residents in those subdivisions oppose the gravel pit, which Pack said is one reason his office stepped in.

When Bull Valley also tried to annex the disputed property, the issue went to court. A judge ruled in March that Wonder Lakes' petition for annexation had been filed a day before Bull Valley's petition. The Village of Wonder Lake, the judge said, had legal claim to the site.

But that ruling could unravel if Pack's lawsuit prevails. It claims that the Village of Wonder Lake improperly annexed the lake bottom.

If a judge agrees, Wonder Lake's annexation of the gravel pit site would be invalid, according to R. Glenn Gable, chief of the civil division in the state's attorney's office.

Then Bull Valley's claim to the site would be the first, said Bull Valley's attorney, Dave McArdle.